Here's More Evidence That Coffee Is Good For Your Brain

I know by now news on coffee research is a little hard to swallow, considering how often new studies come out with contradictory conclusions. But don’t give up on coffee science just yet -- a theme has emerged from the more credible studies, and the latest study in the dogpile is a worthy example.

So let’s get right to the point: according to the latest study, drinking a consistent, moderate amount of coffee each day significantly reduces the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The research team evaluated 1,445 people, ages 65-84, participating in the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a population-based sample. They found that people who kept their daily coffee intake steady at one cup a day were in the best mental shape compared to others with more erratic coffee habits. Here’s the full breakdown:

People who increased their coffee consumption over time to more than a cup a day (in other words, they were at some point one-cup drinkers and gradually inflated their habit) had twice the rate of MCI as people who reduced their habit to one or less cups a day.

Those who increased their habit also had a one and a half times higher rate of MCI than people with a steady one-cup-a-day routine.

People who consistently drank one to two cups a day had a lower rate of MCI than people who rarely or never consumed coffee.

So the theme from these results (and the theme emerging across coffee research overall) is that steady, moderate consumption gets the best results. Erratic consumption—especially increasing your habit—and no consumption are comparatively bad options.

Quoting the lead researchers of the latest study: “Moderate and regular coffee consumption may have neuroprotective effects... against MCI, confirming previous studies on the long-term protective effects of coffee, tea, or caffeine consumption and plasma levels of caffeine against cognitive decline and dementia.”

The possible reasons for these results are legion, but most of them circle around the neuroprotective properties of a moderate but steady amount of caffeine in the brain. Brain imaging research is increasingly focusing on these properties to see how they play out across various brain areas, particularly those most susceptible to cognitive decline in the early stages of dementia.